New! Snake! Rack!

Decided I wanted make my own snake rack this weekend so Friday I went out and tried to find some plastic 41qt tubs to house my 10 juvenile ball pythons someday before they become adults and have to rush to make room for them. After researching the forums for some general info where to shop I went to target and found they had the cheapest price, which was $8.59 each. So I got 12 totaling out about $100. The funny thing is they only charged me for 11 of them since I had such a big stack with all the lids to go with them they miss counted the quantity. Haha suckers...hey saved me 9 bucks. After getting the tubs I decided to draw up some plans for the stand to hold them. Which I highly recommend buying the tubs first and building around there dimensions. So Saturday I went to Menards for the first time and found out they had a great selection and high quality wood way cheaper than Lowes or anywhere else. So I spent $134 on some lumber and now just had to build it.

http://www.dailybulldogs.com/snakes/stand_1.jpg

First shelf started...
http://www.dailybulldogs.com/snakes/stand_2.jpg

Half way! too bad it takes me about 40 minutes for each shelf...
http://www.dailybulldogs.com/snakes/stand_3.jpg

All done
http://www.dailybulldogs.com/snakes/stand_4.jpg

Moved it in the snake room and it fits nice. weighs over 300 pounds though...
http://www.dailybulldogs.com/snakes/stand_5.jpg


Just needs a coat of paint and some flexwatt heat tape. Dont know much about the heat tape anybody know the pros and cons of 3 inch wide compared to 11 inch wide?

Wooden Stand Info
Holds 32 41 qt tubs
cost of wood $134
cost of tubs $100
time involved 2 days
Enjoy!

Very Nice! One thing though...Once you get some big girls in those tub you will most likely see some sagging. I like the concept though. My suggestion is add some support in the middle.

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Originally Posted by twistedtails

Very Nice! One thing though...Once you get some big girls in those tub you will most likely see some sagging. I like the concept though. My suggestion is add some support in the middle.

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x2, the only thing I would add which is only a personal pref. is the tub libs get annoying after awhile

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

x2, the only thing I would add which is only a personal pref. is the tub libs get annoying after awhile

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also with the slat floors not sure how much heat loss you will have could be a little hard keeping temps up

I agree.. go lid-less.. it saves a whole lots of time. i converted to lid-less, and im glad i did. You can see my post at the DIY section.

and where are the snakes??

Great looking rack....I do agree with what others have said with the sagging ...lots of weight per roll...also if close the back and about a foot from the back side, it will keep the heat much better and save you money from having run so much to regulate the temp.....good luck

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Haha suckers...hey saved me 9 bucks.

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I could add a thought on stealing and karma but will just say that you didn't save 9 dollars. You wasted your time and quite a bit more money than 9 dollars using that design. That rack won't work, it's filled with sagging and heating issues.

What Garweft said X2.
I think your design lacks the "usefulness" that racks are generally designed to avoid.
Good luck with the re-build.
Karma can be a pain...

well im not worried about heat loss at all like i said its a snake room you walk in and it averages 80 inside easy on a cool day outside. its extremely humid in here averageing 70%. Perfect. Helps Em shed. The room is very tiny and extremely insulated. its so nice. I did want lids though. i do realize lidless would be easier but its not perferred by me. If a snake would ever get out its goin to be one expensive bull dog treat seeing is we have 4 of them. I can sleep better with a lid on them is the point. Im not changing a thing on the stand, why would I change it when it works great?

Looks pretty nice!

It's a good lookin rack. 70 % humidity with four big females on a row, could cause sagging. a 4000 gram snake is around 10 pounds plus water bowl. breeding season you will have males in with them. a thin support in the middle makes a huge difference. I understand putting in snake room and I think temps will be ok. what ever size heat tape you use, make sure you use one of the high end thermostats. good luck don

Hey Don,
I tried this same design and was very upset. I spent close to the same amount you did and used basically the same design. Mine had center supports and the thing lasted me about 2-3 days before I counted my losses and had a nice $140 fire. I found that the pine twisted and the bins stuck (I used 1 1/2" wood screws and wood glue on every joint and about double the wood with half the size rack). Also I found that with how open the rack was in my 76*F room my 1' section of 11" heat tape could only get the bins to about 80*F inside.

Now I use all enclosed melamine racks. The thermostats aren't working a fraction as hard and they look a lot better.

Hopefully this doesn't happen for you. Good luck :).

Thanks for posting, Jeremy.

Jeremy, another really valid point regarding how open racks tend to use a whole bunch more heat to maintain normal temps than their closed-in counterparts. I have homemade (lidless) melamine racks (available for viewing at my site) with Herpstats. I rarely find them using more that 10-20% power to maintain 95 degrees in a 75 degree room.